Sealing means for gas holders



July 4, 1939 w, E. GRUENING SEALING MEANS FOR GAS HOLDERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 12, 1938 l/W/ a Ill I July 4, 1939. w. E. GRUENING SEALING MEANS FOR GAS HOLDERS Filed Feb. 12, 1938 s Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS y 4, 3 w. E. GRUENING 2,165,179

SEALING MEANS FOR GA HOLDERS File d Feb. 12, 1938 s Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July 4, 1939 UNITED STATES SEALING MEANS FOR GAS HOLDERS Application February 12, 1938, Serial No. 190,273

14. Claims.

This invention relates to gas storage reservoirs or holders, or the like, of the type employing a floating piston, and is particularly directed to improvements in the means for sealing the piston with'respect to the gas holder shell or holder wall.

The gas holders, to which the present invention is applicable, consist primarily of a holder or shell of generally cylindrical shape, and a piston. The piston rests upon the gas contained within the sure by virtue of its weight, and moves up and holder or shell, maintaining the gas under presdown in the shell as determined by the amount of gas stored therein. The gas is delivered into and exhausted from the bottom of the holder. The piston is sealed and stabilized by a structure located around its periphery, engaging the inner wall of the shell.

The sealing means, which is the structure concerned herein, has consisted of sets of packing rings disposed in spaced relationship upon an interposed element and urged as a unit against the holder shell by, means of weights. These packing rings have been supported upon a dilatable ring, permitting local as well as general dilation or flexing of the packing ring structure, so that they may fit variations in the contour of the holder.

It has been the practice to employ a mobile medium in conjunction with this sealing structure. This medium has consisted of a plastic, such as a heavy colloidal solution of soaps and oil, or a fluid of the type exemplified by lubricating oil or some substance having an intermediate consistency. The function of this mobile medium has been to maintain the packing rings in pliable condition and to lubricate the piston for movement along the holder wall. The weights or other means employed urge this pliable, lubricated ring assembly into sealing engagement with the internal surface of the shell.

The substance has been delivered to the space between the packing rings and against the holder wall by means of stand pipes and grease delivery devices accessible to the workman.

Structure of the character described. above is found in the patent to Schurman, No. 1,925,408.

It has been the object of the present inventor to provide an improved sealing means somewhat of the above nature, in which the mobile medium above defined is delivered to the space between the sets of packing rings under the pressure of the gas contained within the holder. The concept resulting from this objective has taken form in the following generally described structure, as one of a number of possible embodiments.

A plurality of grease reservoirs is situated around the periphery of the piston and is in communication with the-gas contained below the piston, which is under pressure, due to the weight of the piston. This gas is admitted over a mobile medium in the reservoirs and is forced from the reservoirs into the space between the packing rings at a number of radial points on the sealing ring structure.

It has been the further object of the present invention to provide a wick or wiper element or retainer means, located above the sealing ring assembly, which is so arranged and urged as to be engaged with maxium efliciency into the corner provided between the holder wall and the top of the sealing ring structure for retaining the medium in the seal. In this objective, the inventor has disposed the thrust means at a highly efficient angle so as to procure the maximum wiping or retaining action in the corner above the piston seal.

This retainer means is in the form of a ring, preferably formed of soft felt or of a material capable of taking up or becoming soaked with a medium after the manner of a wick. Moreover, it is soft and flexible and will fit more closely to the contour of the wall, than will the packing rings.

The medium may be fed directly to the ring and cause it to become soaked with the medium for uniform supply to the holder wall, or the medium may be taken up by the ring as it wipes back and forth over the holder wall.

Still further, it has been the object of the present inventor to provide this wick or wiper ele-' ment or retaining means in conjunction with the gas pressured mobile medium supply means, thus providing means for offsetting any tendency for the medium to move upwardly from the space between the sets of rings, because of the pressure on the medium or because of improper contact of the sealing rings with the holder wall due to tipping or coarseness of contact surface.

It will be apparent that there is a substantial balance between the pressure of the medium in the space and the gas pressure beneath the space, neglecting some friction losses in the movement of the medium. Above the piston there is atmospheric pressure, and a state of pressure unbalance exists. Any tendency for the medium to move upwardly past the upper sealing rings is overcome by means of the supplemental packing, the sealing pressure of which may be adjusted to annular space between the groups of packing series of weights.

grease supply means of the invention.

Figure 3 is a sectional View taken on line 3-3, Figure 2, detailing the construction of the sealing ring and illustrating the connection to the grease supply means thereof.

Figure 4 is a view taken similar to Figure l, but enlarged as to the structure of the sealing ring.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 55, Figure 4, detailing the supplemental packing. I

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of Figure 4.

Generally described, a structural embodiment of the invention disclosed herein may include a series of reservoirs or chambers, for the mobile medium, distributed around the top of the gas holder piston at intervals of about twenty (20) feet. These reservoirs contain floating pistons lying on top of the substance and are, in each instance, connected to the interior of the holder beneath the piston, for permitting the entry of gas under pressure from the gas holder to the reservoirs above the pistons;

The gas thus supplied is under considerable pressure, as will be apparent from the fact that the piston structure, including the seal and the stabilizing means, is of substantial weight. The gas introduced into the reservoirs forces the mobile medium from beneath-the pistons into the rings of the sealing structure. The mobile medium is confined against upward displacement by virtue of the engagement of the upper packing rings against the holder wall, as induced by a The sealing ring is highly 'flexible andadjusts itself readily to general, as well as local distortion of the holder wall. Naturally,

there is no tendency for the mobile medium to move downwardly past the lowermost set of rings, for it is obvious'that the pressure in the space is less thanthe gas pressure, due to frictional losses in the passage of the mobile medium from the reservoirs to the annular chamber.

Thepressure on the medium might tend to force it upwardly past the uppermost set of rings. However, movement of the medium upwardly past the sealing rings is blocked by means of the felt retaining ring, which is forced into the corner between the top surface of the upper set of rings and the holder wall, by means of springs which direct and force the felt ring into this corner. This retaining means is an added precaution against upward movement of the mobile medium. Its elfectiveness may be varied depending upon the tension of the springs.

Referring to the drawings, the holder wall is indicated at H) and the piston generallyatll. The supply reservoirs I2, mounted at spaced l0- cations around the circumference of the piston adjacent the seal, are suported upon standards l3. These standards consist of angle arm pieces resting upon metal brackets I4 upon the top of the piston and supporting the reservoir by attachment to angle iron brackets I5 secured to the sides of the reservoir cylinder.

These reservoirs may be formed in any manner desirable. In the present instance they consist of a cylinder l6, including upper and lower cylinder heads, respectively, I! and Ila. The lower cylinder head Ila is welded in position and carries the outlet pipe I 8. The upper cylinder head I! is held in place upon an annular outward flange I9 of the cylinder by means'of bolts 20. A gasket 2| is provided between the upper cylinder head and the flange. The cylinder I6 is divided into an upper or gas chamber and a lower chamber for the mobile medium, as provided by a gas actuated piston I611. The lower chamber contains the mobile medium and is in communication with a filler tub I61 which extends upwardly from the lower cylinder head Ila, having at its upper end a pressure fitting to facilitate the loading of the chamber.

The gas is admitted to the upper end of the cylinder by means of a pipe 22 connecting the upper part of the cylinder with the gas storage space below the main piston, II. This supply pipe includes a control valve 23. The mobile medium in the piston is ejected under gas pressure through a radially extended tube 24, extending from the center of the lower cylinder head to its periphery and turned toward the seal as at 25.

The connection from this pipe to the seal is flexible and consists of rubber or fabric tubing 26. This tubing is connected to the pipe 24 by means of a coupling 21 and is attached at its end toward the seal to a control valve 28 by means of a coupling, 29. The controlvalve is provided with an upwardly extended control rod 28a to permit convenient manipulation of the valve. A nipple 30 rigidly connects the valve to the seal structure and connects the line to the annular space 3! as provided between the upper set of packing rings 32 and the lower set of packing rings 33 of the sealing structure.

For the purpose of informing the operator as to the amount of mobile medium in the reservoirs, each reservoir piston Him is provided with an indicator rod 3d extending downwardly axially of the piston and cylinder passing below the pipe l8 through an axial extension 35 and packing gland 36. Behind this rod, as viewed from the center of the piston of the holder, is an indicator panel 31, containing a series of vertically dis-- posed graduations in respect to which the lower end of the indicator rod moves. Y

The sealing structure, to which the mobile medium is directed, is of the following nature: The upper and lower sets of continuous fabric packing rings are held in spaced assembly upon a channel arm spacer 39 by means of draw bolts 38. This channel 39 faces outwardly and defines in general the space into which the mobile medium is directed. Between the nuts 40 of the drawbolts and the sets of packing rings, are disposed the flanges of angle iron members 4|. As shown in FigureB, these members 4| are of 7 short length, and are distributed entirely around the holder.

This sealing assembly is suported from the superstructure of the piston. Specifically, it debeams 42 at the juncture of their arms on pivots 45. They are connected to the sealing structure through their depending arms 46 by means of clips 41, slidably adjustably fixed thereto. These clips include outwardly extended ears disposed between vertical angle iron strips 48 fixed to the sealing ring assembly and are attached thereto by means of bolts 41a.

Between the ring assembly and these strips 48, are channel elements 49, making up, in assembly, the dilatable ring structure sustaining the sealing ring assembly. These flanged dilatable expansion sections 49 are fixed to the angle iron members 4| by means of bolts 50, which pass through and secure the vertical strips 48 to the elements 4|. The adjacent flanges of the sections 49 are secured upon strips 50a by bolts 5%.

A continuous corrugated lead protected flexible sheet 5| is inserted between the ring assembly and the dilatable ring members extending from the extreme upper end and depending below the ring assembly. This sheet of material is loosely attached to the piston structure after being looped to provide a flexing portion 52. The attachment is to the top flange of a reverse angle iron beam 53 by means of. bolts 54. The angle iron beam is fixed to the top of the piston. Spring clips 55 hold the sheet against outward displacement because of the gas pressure. These clips provide a rounded surface against which the sheet may bear so as to prevent damage thereto from engagement with sharp edges.

The retainer ring is formed of closely abutted sections 56 of soft felt packing. These sections are urged into the corner between the holder wall and the topmost set of packing rings by means of spring-urged plungers, disposed at substantially 45 angles so as to squarely or evenly intersect the aforesaid corner. Specifically, these plungers include angle iron contact members 5'! engaging around the top inner corner of the packing rings and studs 58 projecting angularly inwardly and upwardly. These studs are slidably mounted in bearing brackets 59 fixed to the sealing structure. Coil springs 60, under compression between the shoulders SI of these plungers and the brackets, create the force necessary for urging the packing sections into the corner and blocking undue upward passage of the medium which, as stated, may occur when the medium in the space 3| is under considerable pressure. Otherwise, the retainer ring serves as a wiper or wick supplying in the proper amounts, the medium necessary to lubrication of the sealing means, and wiping up excess deposits.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A sealing means for the piston of a gas holder including a piston translatable within the holder, comprising, a set of packing rings disposed around the periphery of the piston in contact with the holder wall, a container for a nongaseous mobile medium and conduit means for forcing said mobile medium from said container into the sealing rings by means of the pressure of the gas upon which the piston rests.

2. A sealing structure of the type employed on the piston of a gas holder for sealing the piston with respect to the gas holder wall, comprising, sets of packing rings disposed around said piston against the holder wall, said sets disposed in spaced relation, supply means for delivering a non-gaseous mobile medium into said space by means of the pressure of the gas beneath the piston, and a retainer means disposed above the uppermost set of packing rings for preventing movement of the medium upwardly past said upper set of. packing rings.

3. A sealing means for the piston of a gas holder, comprising, sets of packing rings disposed against the gas holder wall, said sets providing a space therebetween, means operated by means of the pressure of the gas, upon which the piston rests, for maintaining a non-gaseous mobile me dium in said space substantially at the pressure of the gas beneath the piston, and an absorbent wiping means above the upper set of packing rings for preventing movement of said mobile medium upwardly and for uniformly applying the medium to the holder wall.

4. In a gas holder, a holder, a piston translatable therein, a sealing ring mounted around the periphery of the piston and engaging the holder wall, said sealing ring providing spaced sets of packing rings, reservoirs for supplying a nongaseous mobile medium to the space beneath the sets of packing rings, and conduits connecting the space beneath the piston with the reservoirs above the mobile medium whereby the mobile medium is delivered to the space under pressure.

5. In a gas holder, a reservoir cylinder, a piston translatable in said cylinder, sealing means around the periphery of said piston engaging said cylinder wall, said sealing means consisting of sets of. packing rings, said sets spaced apart, means for supporting said rings, weights for urging the rings against the cylinder wall, supply means associated with the piston connected to the space below the piston for delivering a nongaseous mobile medium to the space between the sets of packing rings under pressure, and an absorbent ring engaged in the circumferential corner between the cylinder wall and the top of the upper set of packing rings.

6. A sealing means for the piston of a gas holder, comprising, sets of packing rings held in spaced relation around the piston and disposed against the gas holder wall, and pressure means operated by means of the pressure of the gas upon which the piston rests, for maintaining a non-geasous mobile medium in the space between the sets of rings substantially at the pressure of the gas beneath the piston.

7. In a gas holder, a holder, a piston translatable therein, a sealing ring mounted around the periphery of the piston and engaging the holder wall, reservoirs for supplying a non-gaseous mobile medium to the sealing ring, and means connecting the respective reservoirs with the space beneath the piston whereby the mobile medium is delivered to the sealing ring under pressure.

8. In a gas holder, a holder, a piston translatable therein, a sealing ring mounted around the periphery of the piston and engaging the holder wall, said sealing ring providing'spaced sets of packing rings, and reservoirs for a non-gaseous mobile medium connected to the space between the sets of packing rings, said reservoirs connected to the space beneath the piston whereby the mobile medium is delivered to the space under springs engaging said supplemental packing at an angle intersecting the angle of the corner.

10. In a gas holder comprising, a holder shell, a floating piston, said piston having a sealing ring in sliding sealing engagement with the wall of said holder, said sealing ring including an annular groove open to said wall and adapted to contain a non-gaseous mobile medium to seal said ring; a closed container for said sealing me dium, a conduit in connection with said annular groove and with the lower portion of said container, and a gas conduit in connection with the upper portion of said container and with the gas storage space beneath said floating piston, where'- by the pressure of the stored gas is utilized to force said mobile medium from said container to said annular groove and maintain said medium at a pressure substantially equal to that of the stored gas.

11. A gas holder comprising, a holder shell, a floating piston, said piston having a sealing ring in sliding sealing engagement with the wall of said holder, said sealing ring including an annular groove open to said wall and adapted to contain a non-gaseous mobile medium to seal said ring, a closed container for said sealing medium,'a slidable piston in said container subdividing said container into a mobile medium chamber and a pressure chamber respectively, a conduit in connection with said annular groove 1 and with the mobile medium chamber, a gas conduit in connection with the pressure chamber and with the gas storage space beneath said floating piston, whereby the pressure of the stored gas is utilized to operate said piston and force said mobile medium from said chamber to said annular groove and maintain said medium at a "pressure substantially equal to that of the stored gas. H L' 12-. A gas holder comprising, a holder shell, a floating piston, said piston having a sealing ring in sliding sealing engagement with the wall of said holder and havingan annular groove open to said wall and adapted to contain a non-gasholder wall, a reservoir for said sealing medium in communication with said annular groove, 2, piston in said reservoir, and actuating means 'for said piston, whereby the pressure of the stored gas is utilized to op'eratersaid piston and force said mobile medium from said container to said annular groove and maintain said medium at a pressure substantially equal to that of the stored gas.

13. In a sealing apparatus for and including the piston of a gas holder, comprising, packing rings supported on the piston around its periphery and in contact with the holder wall, and a retaining ring urged into the corner afforded by the holder wall and the top surface of the packingrings, said ring being formed of relatively soft absorbent material.

14. In a gas holder including a piston, a seal for the piston, said seal disposed around the circumference of the piston and engaging the holder wall, said seal providing a space intermediate its top and bottom, a reservoir for a non-gaseous mobile medium, a conduit extending from said reservoir to said intermediate space, a piston in said reservoir, and pressure means active on the piston substantially at the pressure of the gas upon which the piston rests for ion:- ing the mobile medium from said reservoir to said intermediate space.

WILLIAM E. GRUENING.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No, 2,165,179.. July [51959. i WILLIAM E. GRUENING.

It is hereby certified that error appears-in the printed'specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page l,'first column, line 9, beginning with "The piston" strike out all to and including the word and period "therein." in line lb. and insert instead the following sentence The piston rests upon the gas contained within the holder or shell, maintaining the gas under pressure byvirt'ue of its weight, and moves up and down in the shell as determined by the amount of gas stored therein.

same page, second column, line 16, for "maxium" read maximum; page2, sec- 0nd column, line l'Z, for-the word "tub'" read tube; page 5, second column, line 15, claim 6, for "non-geasous" read non-gaseous; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the samemay conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 15th day of August, A. D 19-59;

7 Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

